Friday Night Lights rewind: Cougars mount another rally, Pleasant Hill field vandalized, Panthers score four defensive TDs

The Highland football team is 2-0 heading into Clarence Cannon Conference play after beating Scotland County 14-6. | Photo courtesy Payton Miller

QUINCY — Call them the Comeback Cougars. Two weeks in a row, the Highland football team has needed to erase a deficit to be able to head into Clarence Cannon Conference play with an unblemished record. Both times, the Cougars have figured out a way to get into the end zone. Last Friday night, the…

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QND’s Bunte, Pleasant Hill’s Lowe and Brown County’s Dunlap earn first-team all-state honors

Quincy Notre Dame sophomore left-hander Caitlin Bunte was named to the Class 2A all-state first team after hitting .620 with 10 home runs and compiling a 16-5 record with a 1.95 ERA. | Matt Schuckman photo

QUINCY — Quincy Notre Dame sophomore Caitlin Bunte led a trio of area softball players who earned first-team all-state honors from the Illinois Coaches Association. Eight others received second- or third-team honors. Bunte, a left-handed pitcher and outfielder, was named to the Class 2A first team, while Pleasant Hill junior pitcher McKinley Lowe and Brown…

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Tigers use walk-off home run leading off seventh to end Wolves’ season

Pleasant Hill pitcher McKinley Lowe struck out 10 in the Class 1A sectional semifinal loss to Illini Bluffs on Wednesday in Havana, Ill. | Matt Schuckman file photo

HAVANA, Ill. — One pitch, one swing, one sudden ending. Illini Bluffs catcher Lexi Brinkman jumped on the first pitch from Pleasant Hill’s McKinley Lowe in the bottom of the seventh inning Wednesday and smacked a walk-off home run to center field for a 4-3 victory in the semifinals of the Class 1A Havana softball…

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Quick as a Flachs: Center fielder’s crucial hit helps Raiders fend off challenge from Wolves

Quincy Notre Dame's Mackenzie Flachs claps while looking at the dugout after her double in the third inning of Saturday's game against Pleasant Hill at The Backyard. | Matt Schuckman photo

QUINCY — The two-run lead vanished, and with it seemed to go with the momentum and the energy the Quincy Notre Dame softball team brought to The Backyard on Saturday. Mackenzie Flachs brought it all back. After Pleasant Hill’s Ava Wombles scored on Jade Peebles single in the top of the third inning to tie…

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Photo gallery: QND softball team collides with Pleasant Hill, Pittsfield at The Backyard

Quincy Notre Dame pitcher Carlee Gilker points to her catcher during Saturday's game against Pittsfield at The Backyard. | Matt Schuckman photo

QUINCY — With the postseason looming, a couple of regional title hopefuls went head-to-head Saturday at The Backyard as the Quincy Notre Dame softball team upended Pleasant Hill 11-2 during the QND Slam. The Raiders also beat Pittsfield 13-5. Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman spent time at The Backyard and put together this photo…

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QND’s Cornwell earns first-team all-state, six area softball players receive second-team honors

Quincy Notre Dame senior third baseman/pitcher Eryn Cornwell was named to the Class 2A all-state first team by the Illinois Coaches Association. | Matt Schuckman photo

QUINCY — Despite a shoulder injury that now has her prepping for surgery, Eryn Cornwell remained a force in the middle of the Quincy Notre Dame softball team’s lineup. Her production resulted in receiving Class 2A first-team all-state honors from the Illinois Coaches Association. QND freshman Caitlin Bunte was a second-team selection, while five area…

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Lucky 13: Mustangs knock Wolves out in regional semifinals by surviving 13-inning marathon

Unity's Taylor Goudschaal, left, hugs teammate Kylee Barry in the center of the infield after the Mustangs upset second-seeded Pleasant Hill 4-0 in a 13-inning marathon in the Class 1A Central Regional semifinals Wednesday in Camp Point, Ill. Photo courtesy Mike Pritchard

CAMP POINT, Ill. — Don’t worry about Brooklynn Howell being ready to pitch come Saturday. Fortunately, the Unity sophomore right-hander will have a couple of days to recover from what was a marvelous — albeit taxing — effort Wednesday afternoon at Central High School. Howell pitched the seventh-seeded Unity softball team to a 4-0, 13-inning…

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Photo gallery: Pritchard captures softball action from Class 1A Central Regional

The Liberty softball players celebrate their 5-4 victory over Central in Wednesday's semifinals of the Class 1A Central Regional in Camp Point, Ill. Photo courtesy Mike Pritchard

CAMP POINT, Ill. — Photographer Mike Pritchard found himself behind the lens of his camera for two epic softball games Wednesday in the Class 1A Central Regional with seventh-seeded Unity upsetting second-seeded Pleasant Hill 4-0 in a 13-inning marathon and fifth-seeded Liberty outlasting third-seeded Central 5-4. Here is a gallery of images Pritchard captured from…

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Camp Point Central shuts out Pleasant Hill

CPC Coach Brad Dixon talks to his team after Friday night's 34-0 win over Pleasant Hill Photo: J. Robert Gough

After rallying for the win in their season opener, the Camp Point Central Panthers didn’t need to come up with any last-minute heroics this week.  Connor Griffin and Issac Genenbacher each ran for two scores and Garrett Williams ran for 118 yards as the Panthers improve to 2-0 with a 34-0 win at Pleasant Hill. …

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